Adelaide Students Get Live Interview With NASA Astronaut

Adelaide student Hannah Ewart is one of 12 students who will interview a NASA astronaut.(Supplied)

What’s it like to live in space? How do astronauts handle illness? What do they eat? Everyone wonders about that and wish they could go straight to the source for answers. Well now they can!

Key points:

Adelaide students to cross live to the International Space Station

They will interview NASA astronaut Richard Arnold

Live cross all about promoting STEM careers for female students

These are just some of the questions that a group of Adelaide students has asked during a live cross to the International Space Station (ISS). The 13 Walford Anglican School for Girls students interviewed NASA astronaut Richard Arnold, with the rare moment broadcast live to the world.

It follows the school’s inaugural Walford Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Space Camp Tour, where students visited NASA in Alabama in April last year.

Teaching STEM in an ‘inspiring, creative way’

Image The students will take part in a live cross interview with the International Space Station.(Supplied: NASA)

Principal Rebecca Clarke said the opportunity was all about showing the students what career options were possible and promote female involvement in STEM careers. She said it also helped showcase one of the greatest achievements of humankind: travelling through space.

“We are always seeking innovative ways to engage our students, to raise our students sights and show what is possible,” she said. “We recognise that women are under-represented in STEM careers and this link to the International Space Station is a great way to bring all those fields together in an inspiring, creative way.

“This event brings a wide variety of students, parents and the wider community together to celebrate some of the greatest of human achievements.” She said she hoped the interview would potentially create a career pathway for some of the students, or at least show them what kind of career they could strive for.

“The value in all girls having the opportunity to participate in this exciting opportunity is the way it has encouraged them to get involved in a really unusual occasion,” she said.

“After all, how many people have spoken to an astronaut in space?”Those students may never pursue a STEM career but simply because they took up the opportunity to participate in a school competition they had the chance to do something truly out of this world.”

Space interview will have ‘lasting impact’

Ms Clarke said the school wanted to build on its success with its space camp in 2017 and the opportunity to interview a NASA astronaut was extremely rare for a school in Adelaide. “After the success of the space camp last year, we’re thrilled to be able to offer this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to our students, which we anticipate will have a lasting impact,” she said.

Image Adelaide Year 10 student Hannah Ewart who is one of the lucky students who get the chance to interview a NASA astronaut.(Supplied)

The group of 13 students were selected through a competition, and the school will also showcase a range of activities prior to the interview, including virtual reality goggles that allow people to see what it’s like to walk through the International Space Station, a mock planetarium, a space suit and 3D printing. Source: ABC News